2025 Baseball Shore Conference Tournament Championship Preview: RBC vs. Brick Memorial

Shore Conference Tournament Baseball Championship

Sunday, May 25, 2025

At ShoreTown Ballpark, Lakewood

7 p.m. (Gates Open: 6 p.m.)

Admission: $5 (Cash only)

 

No. 4 Brick Memorial (18-6) at No. 3 Red Bank Catholic (18-5)

Brick Memorial at a Glance

Head Coach: Evan Rizzitello
SCT Championships: None
SCT Final Appearances: 1 (1990)
Road to the Final: Defeated No. 20 Monmouth, 4-1; No. 5 Colts Neck, 5-0; No. 1 CBA, 2-1

Projected Lineup (With 2025 Stats)

Tyler Garbooshian, Jr., SS (.355/.479/.526, 7 2B, 2 HR, 29 R, 17 RBI, 15 SB)

Joe McGlynn, Jr., C (.513/.554/.632, 6 2B, 1 HR, 10 R, 21 RBI, 3 SB)

Dan Golembiewski, Jr., 1B (.425/.506/.767, 7 2B, 6 HR, 26 R, 26 RBI, 5 SB)

Brayden Nalducci, Sr., 3B (.430/.455/.544, 6 2B, 1 HR, 28 R, 18 RBI, 13 SB)

Jimi Popp, Sr., CF (.403/.449/.458, 2 2B, 1 3B, 10 R, 14 RBI, 15 SB)

Brody Moore, Jr., P (.321/.419/.372, 4 2B, 14 R, 12 RBI, 3 SB)

Michael Figner, So., RF (.289/.429/.422, 3 2B, 1 HR, 4 R, 11 RBI, 1 SB)

Luke Douglas, Sr., DH (.306/.414/.347, 2 2B, 10 R, 14 RBI, 8 SB)

Dan Popovitch, Sr., 2B (.277/.320/.362, 4 2B, 9 R, 6 RBI, 1 SB)

DH for: Gavin McCue, Jr., LF

Probable Starting Pitcher

Brody Moore, Jr., LHP (6-0, 37.2 IP, 20 H, 13 BB, 57 SO, 0.56 ERA)

In Relief

Brayden Nalducci, Sr., RHP (2-1, 1 save, 35.1 IP, 26 H, 25 BB, 52 SO, 2.77 ERA)

Zach Pirnik, So., LHP (6-2, 38 IP, 38 H, 14 BB, 37 SO, 2.03 ERA)

The SCT final moving from Wednesday to Sunday is a good-news-bad-news proposition for Brick Memorial. The good news for the Mustangs is Brody Moore – who has been the Mustangs’ most dominant pitcher throughout the season – now has full eligibility while he would have been able to throw no more than 60 pitches had the game been played on Wednesday. He also, however, would have been eligible to throw the full 110 allowed by the NJSIAA on regular rest had the game been made up on Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

Which brings us to the bad news: if Moore – or anyone else on the Brick Memorial roster – throws more than 90 pitches on Sunday, that player will not be eligible to pitch until Friday. That is significant because the first two rounds of the public NJSIAA Tournament are scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.

Brick Memorial also used up the eligibility of two potential options in a 7-6 win at Old Bridge on Friday: junior James Martin and sophomore Will Montanye. Neither would have been the first option for the Mustangs after Moore, but should coach Evan Rizzitello need a third pitcher to get through a close game on Sunday night, he may be required to use his three top options in Moore, Brayden Nalducci and Zach Pirnik.

Nalducci’s last three outings have come in relief, as he has closed out each of the Mustangs’ last three wins – all against high-level competition: Colts Neck, Christian Brothers Academy and Old Bridge. Nalducci’s 12 pitches against Old Bridge will not limit how many pitches he can throw in relief of Moore on Sunday, but were he to throw 29 pitches or more, it would impact the number of pitches he could throw in Tuesday’s NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III first-round game vs. Freehold Boro.

Fortunately for Brick Memorial, there is enough pitching on hand to cover just about any scenario that comes up, with both Martin and Montanye eligible to pitch by Tuesday and Pirnik likely a plan C for Rizzitello to keep him available for Tuesday.

With the pitching in good shape but somewhat limited, the Mustangs will rely on a lineup that flexed its muscle Friday at Old Bridge after doing just enough to beat CBA on Monday. First baseman Dan Golembiewski blasted his sixth homer of the season, which gave Brick Memorial the lead for good in the top of the eighth inning. Catcher Joe McGlynn also connected on his first homer of the season – a feather in his cap after he was already hitting over .500 during his junior campaign.

Shortstop Tyler Garbooshian is also a power threat as a table-setter at the top of the lineup and centerfielder Jimi Popp has game-changing speed that he showcased in the win over CBA when he scored what proved to be the winning run in the second inning after reaching on a bunt base hit. Nalducci has also been a force in the middle of the order with an average well over .400 and sophomore Michael Figner has delivered a game-winning and game-tying RBI hit over the course of Brick Memorial’s last two SCT games.

With the Mustangs already snapping a 35-year drought between SCT championship game appearances, they are also going to bat for the ultra-majority of the Shore Conference that has not win an SCT title over the past 16 seasons. In that time, only five different teams have won the SCT title: Red Bank Catholic (five), CBA (four), Toms River North (three), Jackson Memorial (two) and Toms River South (two). Since 2013, only three teams have won the SCT title, with RBC winning four, CBA four and Toms River North three.

For context, compare that to two other sports that have similar Shore Conference Tournaments in different seasons: there have been 11 different champions in the boys basketball Shore Conference Tournament since the 2007-08 season and since the fall of 2008, there have been seven different champions in boys soccer – even with CBA dominating that stretch with seven titles.

Brick Memorial has not won a tournament championship since its Ocean County Tournament title in 1996 and is looking to become the first public school team outside of Toms River to take home an SCT title since Colts Neck won the 2007 trophy.

Red Bank Catholic at a Glance

Head Coach: Buddy Hausmann
SCT Championships: 5 (2011, 2019, 2021-23)
SCT Final Appearances: 9 (1985, 2005, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021-23)
Road to the Final: Defeated No. 14 Brick, 8-0; No. 6 Ranney, 12-2; No. 7 Jackson Memorial, 10-1

Projected Lineup (With 2025 Stats)

Dylan Passo, Sr., 1B (.426/.620/.574, 7 2B, 1 3B, 29 R, 14 RBI, 6 SB)

Max Dantoni, Sr., SS (.246/.456/.316, 1 2B, 1 HR, 21 R, 15 RBI, 21 SB)

Charlie Stumberger, Jr., RF (.300/.380/.488, 5 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 21 R, 30 RBI, 11 SB)

Aiden Funk, Jr., C (.419/.554/.674, 4 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 10 R, 21 RBI, 3 SB)

Jake Frankel, Jr., LF (.282/.352/.526, 1 2B, 3 3B, 4 HR, 14 R, 27 RBI, 4 SB)

Luke Lonczak, So., DH (.286/.434/.500, 2 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 12 R, 10 RBI, 9 SB)

A.J. Sciametta, Sr., 2B (.371/.500/.532, 2 3B, 2 HR, 15 R, 9 RBI, 6 SB)

Drew Cannon, Jr., 3B (.180/.293/.197, 1 2B, 11 R, 12 RBI, 1 SB)

Luke Scaturro, So., CF (.229/.429/.257, 1 2B, 18 R, 7 RBI, 8 SB)

Probable Starting Pitcher

Luke Meyers, Sr., RHP (6-0, 28.2 IP, 19 H, 10 BB, 35 SO, 1.22 ERA)

In Relief

Ryan Prior, Sr., RHP (3-2, 1 save, 36.1 IP, 26 H, 20 BB, 48 SO, 2.31 ERA)

Glen Popes, Jr., RHP (4-2, 30.2 IP, 20 H, 18 BB, 29 SO, 3.42 ERA)

Sam French, Fr., RHP (3-0, 20 IP, 12 H, 13 BB, 16 SO, 1.40 ERA)

Joe Mauro, Jr., RHP (8 IP, 6 H, 5 BB, 7 SO, 4.37 ERA)

While the re-scheduled SCT final is a mixed bag for Brick Memorial, it is a major positive for Red Bank Catholic. The Caseys do not play their first NJSIAA Tournament game until Friday, which means it will be all available hands on deck for Sunday. That won’t quite include everybody after sophomore Anthony Scaglione threw 74 pitches Friday at Rumson-Fair Haven, which crosses him off Sunday’s lineup card as an available pitcher.

Despite missing a couple of potential options, RBC coach Buddy Hausmann will have his top four arms available to throw as much as needed with no worry about eligibility for Friday’s state-tournament opener. That is a complete 180 from what it would have looked like for RBC had the championship game been played on Wednesday – one day after the Caseys grinded out an 8-3 win over CBA in the Monmouth County Tournament final.

In that win over CBA, the Caseys used two pitchers – senior Ryan Prior and freshman Sam French – that would have been ineligible for Wednesday and also would have been without junior Glen Popes after Popes threw 72 pitches in Monday’s SCT semifinal win over Jackson Memorial.

Then again, when it comes to the start of Sunday’s championship game, nothing is different from what it would have been on Wednesday. Senior right-hander Luke Meyers was slated to start if there were a game on Wednesday and will remain Hausmann’s choice to take the ball against the dangerous Brick Memorial lineup. Meyers was a solid mid-rotation pitcher for RBC as a junior in 2024, but has enjoyed a breakout senior season that has seen him become one of the Shore Conference’s steadiest pitchers while also landing a scholarship offer from Bucknell University.

Meyers pitched the final two innings of Tuesday’s win over CBA, including escaping a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the bottom of the sixth inning after he was summoned from the bullpen. Meyers will start the game clean on Sunday and look to improve on his perfect 6-0 record.

The biggest difference between a Sunday championship and a Wednesday championship is what RBC will have backing up Meyers in relief. Although Meyers has been excellent all season, his season-high for a single game is six inning and he has not thrown more than 87 pitches in any of his starts. History says the Caseys will need more than one pitcher to finish off Brick Memorial on Sunday night and the extra four days gives them access to Prior, who figures to be the plan to close the game out in the seventh or at the first sign of trouble before that. The Virginia commit labored in four innings vs. CBA, but kept the Colts to two runs in four innings while picking up his third win of the season. Prior to that outing, Prior fired four shutout innings vs. Brick in the SCT round of 16 and earned the save with a scoreless seventh inning against Ocean in the MCT quarterfinals.

Popes and French will also be ready if the game goes long or becomes a slugfest, but the Caseys’ script for Sunday involves its two seniors at the top of the rotation – much like Brick Memorial’s involves Moore and Nalducci.

Pitching has been solid for RBC during its recent hot streak, but the lineup is what has made the Caseys dominant in this particular tournament. They have outscored opponents, 30-3, during the SCT thanks to contributions from up and down the lineup.

A major reason why RBC has heated up has been the health of its lineup, which has been fragmented throughout the season. Just as RBC was ready to welcome back a talented middle-of-the-order back in sophomore Luke Lonczak – who missed the first three-and-a-half weeks of the season while rehabbing a torn ACL – catcher Aiden Funk suffered a broken bone in his throwing hand that knocked him out for three weeks. Now, Funk is back and the Caseys have their lineup firing on all cylinders, with Funk, Jake Frankel and Lonczak in the middle third hitting after the red-hot Dylan Passo, Max Dantoni and RBI leader Charlie Stumberger occupying the top three spots.

Over his four-year varsity career, Passo has shined come tournament time and this year has been no different. The Notre Dame commit is 7-for-13 (.538) with 13 walks (.786 on-base percentage), three doubles, 13 runs scored and four RBI across seven games during the MCT and SCT. Stumberger has also driven in 10 of his 30 RBI in those seven games, while Dantoni has torn up the base paths with seven steals in those seven games while also running a .542 on-base percentage and collecting both of his extra-base hits on the season during tournament play.

In all, RBC has six starters hitting over .300 and slugging better than .500 during tournament play: Passo, Dantoni, Stumberger, Funk, Lonczak and second baseman A.J. Sciametta.

A championship for RBC would be the sixth overall – all since 2011 – and would put the Caseys along in third place all-time, trailing just CBA (eight) and Toms River South (seven) for the all-time lead in SCT championships. RBC has been to the final six times in the last eight seasons dating back to 2017 and when the Caseys clash with Brick Memorial, it will mark the seventh different opponent for RBC in its last seven SCT final appearances.

The Match-Up

Both lineups in Sunday’s final have had great seasons from Nos. 1-through-9, but recently, it has been RBC that has put up the gaudy run totals, save for its two regular-season losses to Rumson-Fair Haven and Point Beach that came between Tuesday’s win over CBA and Saturday. RBC has been a big-game team for the last half-decade and this senior class, led by Passo, has seen a lot of winning thanks to prime-time performances in prime-time games like the one the Caseys are about to play.

Brick Memorial, meanwhile, is coming off a clutch late-game performance against Old Bridge in a tune-up game and rode its pitching through the first three rounds of the tournament. RBC has been far more locked-in than Monmouth, Colts Neck and CBA have, so while Brody Moore has proved he can keep a high-level lineup in check this season, Sunday will be the most capable lineup he has faced this year. That leaves plenty of responsibility on Brick Memorial’s hitters to put the pressure on Meyers throughout the game and to deliver in clutch spots. With Moore on the mound, it should not take a huge number to win, but there is a good chance the Mustangs will need to come up with at least four to knock off RBC. If four is the magic number, RBC has hit that mark over and over again during the tournament season. Brick Memorial is capable of it and if the Mustangs get a big game from Tyler Garbooshian, Dan Golembiewski or Joe McGlynn, the trophy could be going back to Brick. Expect a well-pitched game, but for a few of those big-name hitters to make their mark, with a x-factor near the bottom of the order to show up.

The Pick: Red Bank Catholic, 4-2